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regular-article-logo Wednesday, 24 April 2024

Tokyo Olympics 2020 shuts door on foreign fans

Ticket holders will be refunded, promise organisers

Reuters Tokyo Published 21.03.21, 12:57 AM
The Olympic rings outside the National Stadium in Tokyo

The Olympic rings outside the National Stadium in Tokyo Telegraph picture

International spectators will not be allowed to enter Japan for this summer’s Olympic Games amid public concerns over coronavirus, organisers said on Saturday, setting the stage for a drastically scaled-back event.

Some 600,000 Olympic tickets purchased by overseas residents will be refunded, as will be another 300,000 Paralympic tickets, Toshiro Muto, the chief executive of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee told a news conference.

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He declined to say how much the refunds would cost.

The Olympic Games were postponed last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic. While the outbreak has chilled public opinion toward the event, both organisers and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga have vowed to press ahead with the Games. The decision on international spectators will “ensure safe and secure Games for all participants and the Japanese public,” Tokyo 2020 organisers said, following five-way talks that included the head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and the Tokyo governor.

“People who are involved in the Olympics in some way may be allowed to enter the country, whereas regular visitors will not be able to,” Muto said.

He said costs for hotel cancellations would not be covered. Organisers may also consider cutting the number of staff members who will participate in the Games.

The Games are scheduled for July 23 to August 8, and the Paralympics from August 24 to September 5.

Media polls have shown that a majority of the Japanese public are wary about letting in international spectators as the country grapples with the tail-end of a third wave of the pandemic.

Tourism woes

A stripped-down Games means the government will not get the tourism boom it had long counted on. Japan has grown increasingly reliant on foreign tourists, particularly from Asia, to bolster its weak domestic economy. Like other countries, it has seen tourism unravel with the pandemic and its hotels and restaurants have been hit.

Muto said organisers will decide next month on caps for spectators at venues.

“It’s very unfortunate,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said of the decision on international spectators, speaking to reporters after the meeting.

But she added that the conclusion was “unavoidable” given that the priority for holding a successful Games would be the health of the athletes and the Japanese public.

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